Ropes, chains found in home where women held captive

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ropes and chains have been found inside the Cleveland home where police say three women spent close to a decade in captivity, city officials said Wednesday.

While Public Safety Director Martin Flask said investigators haven't confirmed how the ropes and chains were used, police Chief Michael McGrath told NBC's "Today" that they were used to restrain the missing women.

"We have confirmation that they were bound," he told NBC.

Authorities expect to file charges Wednesday against the homeowner and his two brothers, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Police have until Wednesday evening to file charges against Ariel Castro, 52, who lived in the home where the women were found, and his brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, police Detective Jennifer Ciaccia said Tuesday.

They were arrested Monday night after one of the women, 27-year-old Amanda Berry, staged a daring escape with the aid of neighbors.

In addition to Berry and a 6-year-old daughter apparently born to her during her captivity, police say Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, also were freed.

The three women disappeared from the same Cleveland street -- Lorain Avenue -- between 2002 and 2004. Police say they were held just three miles from where they disappeared.

They escaped after Berry broke out the bottom of a screen door and called for help Monday evening.

Neighbors Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero say they responded to her cries and helped kick in the door to help her escape.

"I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," Berry said in a frantic 911 call. "And I'm here. I'm free now."

Since they escaped, the women have been reuniting with family members they had not seen in nearly 10 years.

Berry arrived at her sister's home Wednesday. She had been expected to make a statement, according to police, but her sister appeared instead. Beth Serrano implored the huge crowd of reporters and photographers to give the family privacy to recover from their long ordeal.

In a telephone call recorded Tuesday, by CNN affiliate WJHL, Berry sounded upbeat -- telling her grandmother Fern Gentry that she felt "fine" and that the 6-year-old girl also rescued Monday from the Cleveland home is indeed her own.

"I love you honey, thank God," Berry's tearful grandmother Fern Gentry could be heard telling her granddaughter. "I've thought about you all this time. I never forgot about you."